


Home

by mischief_brewing



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:21:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25769596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischief_brewing/pseuds/mischief_brewing
Summary: Percy Weasley doesn't know how to reconnect with his family after the Battle of Hogwarts.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Home

“What are you worried about? He’s your own brother.” Percy sighed to himself, glancing up at the brightly decorated storefront of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. It had been months since Percy had last seen his family. After the battle of Hogwarts, he couldn’t bear to see any of them.

A lifetime as the butt of a joke can really get to someone. Percy’s first girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, once called him the “black sheep” of his family. Percy doubled down on his ambition to join the Ministry of Magic once he got the chance and made no room for his family. He rejected them because he was afraid of them rejecting him—any more than they already had.

He rejected them when they needed him most.

Percy memorized the exact date that he sent back his annual Christmas jumper—unopened. That date haunted him since the moment he sent it back. But nothing could prepare him for the first time he saw his family at Hogwarts.

His spur-of-the-moment resignation from the Ministry.

The death of the only person who truly accepted him.

Staring up into the eyes of that person, depicted at the storefront of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. It was too much to bear.

“Hold yourself together, it’s just a statue,” Percy scolded himself for getting emotional in the middle of the street. He couldn’t be seen like this. But there was no turning back now.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Percy spent the summer months in Romania with his older brother, Charlie. He would stay at Charlie’s flat all day, brewing tea and baking cakes until Charlie came back from work, and the two would just talk. Like old friends. The conversation topic never mattered, one day they might talk for hours about the tea that they were drinking, the next they might share stories from the time they spent apart from each other.

But Percy hadn’t seen any of the rest of his family since the day Fred died. And here he was, preparing himself to walk into Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes as if nothing had happened. What would he say? Would his brothers even recognize him? He knew there was only one way to find out.

Percy cautiously stepped into the store. Children rushed past him in long, flowing robes. There were fireworks exploding at the top of the high ceiling. Cages crammed with pygmy puffs creaked as they dangled from the spiral staircase. And there was Ron at the top of it. Percy held his breath. He caught a flash of recognition in Ron’s eyes as Ron sprang to life. He rushed down the stairs in a flurry and enveloped Percy in a tight hug that they had both been so desperately lacking.

“Finally! After the first month without seeing you I thought I was going to be dishing out all my savings to  _ George! _ ” Ron exclaimed.

“What are you talking about? What savings?” Percy turned his head to Ron’s ear so that he could speak clearly above the sounds of fireworks and screaming children.

Ron stepped back from Percy. “Ten galleons that you’d come back home! George is going to be sorry when he comes back and sees  _ you  _ here!” Ron chuckled.

And at that moment, Percy knew that everything was going to be okay.

“Oh yeah, and your Christmas jumper’s out back in the warehouse—I’ll go grab it for you!” Ron wormed his way through the crowded store and out a back door into what Percy assumed was a storage room. He returned with a tattered brown box. The ribbon was still intact. Percy took the box in both hands and carefully untied the ribbon. He opened the box to find a green jumper with a golden “P” stitched onto the chest. Resting on top of it was a handwritten note.

_ You’re always home at the Burrow. _

_ -Mom _


End file.
